Part 10: The Principles Behind The Method
Outlining the foundations of the framework and the method
Outlining the foundations of the framework and the method
This article is part of the Unified Consciousness Framework series. To gain the maximum benefit from reading this series it would be wise to read them sequentially.
In this part we will identify and briefly outline the key principles that lie behind the method. Although it may not be abundantly clear to the reader at this stage of the framework how these principles are related to one another or even if there is a solid basis to them, the reader is encouraged to apply the principle covered in the section on Higher Learning at this stage to help them to approach this part in a more receptive manner. Subsequently, much of what follows in the framework’s remaining sections essentially takes us through the process of looking at all of these points to understand why they are part of the framework, how they relate to one another, as well as adding some much-needed context.
Therefore, a certain degree of patience is required from the reader towards themselves at this point in order to read and engage with something which will likely be unintelligible for them. If it helps, they can imagine these points to be similar to a table of contents that one may find at the beginning of a book. The table of contents outlines the headings of the chapters and sections which are still to come, even though the reader may not know what each of those headers is relating to. Certain terms and phrases will be used here which the reader will then find being used throughout the rest of the framework.
Think of these points like signposts directing us to a distant city as we set off from our home on a journey to that city. Initially, at a greater distance from the city, these signs will simply list the name of the city and how far away it is from you. As you continue on your journey and get closer to that city, the signs will change and become more specific, now relating to specific parts of that city: North, East, South and West for example. As we continue to travel still further towards our destination within that city, the signs then start to refer to specific districts, neighbourhoods, and then roads. Finally, after following all of these signs we end up arriving at our destination, which is a specific house on one of those roads.
This specific house was our destination at the start of the journey, but it was necessary for us to follow the more general signs to start off with when we were so far away. Therefore, the points that are included at this early stage of the framework are something akin to the road signs at the start of your journey. They are not specific, but are able to give you an indication of the general direction in which you will be travelling and the nature of what that ‘district’ of the framework will be like when you get there. Working through the remaining content in the framework after this part is as if you are making your journey to each of these destinations, discovering the individual districts, neighbourhoods, and roads that make up those neighbourhoods.
Wanting to understand them at this stage is like wanting to know the details of the city before you have travelled there. You may look at each of the individual roads on a map when you are far away from the city in an effort to understand what these roads will be like, but you will only truly know what the road is like once you have finally made it there and can see it for yourself. Even if someone was to take the time to intricately describe each and every detail of that road, it would still not be the same thing as you experiencing that road when you have travelled to the city.
Remember, a large proportion of the value held in the framework is precisely because it guides you on a journey. This is something that will not be so easy to consciously register at the start, because it is not often the case in our lives that we place much emphasis on any journey we are taking, regardless of the particular nature of that journey, because we are usually more focused on the destination that the journey brings us to. In many respects though, often without realising it, the destination we arrive at is really inconsequential. It is really the journey we have taken which gives our arrival at that destination any value at all. Within the context of our discussion here pertaining to the framework, it is essentially being stated, in a perhaps more indirect manner, that the various different conclusions that the framework arrives at, if there even are such conclusions to be found in it, are far less valuable than the journey taken by the reader working through the framework to eventually end up arriving at those conclusions. This is something that is worth the reader taking a moment to contemplate upon.
Without further ado then we take our first steps out on that journey towards our ‘inconsequential’ destination:
